okay. jon: those are the stories we like to hear where everyone is okay be two he looked warm and cozy. jon: good to have you here. thank you for joining us today. have a great weekend. "america live" starts right now. maybe. >> the u.s. and a potentially devastating blow. a temporary deal is reached to stop a looming strike at american courts for now. good to see you. welcome to "america live", i am gregg jarrett. heather: and i am heather. megyn kelly is off today. it looks like they will have 30 days to come up with a plan to avert a strike to put many

americans out of the work. we will bring them on the story as we get get the details. the first time in developing this hour we are awaiting a high-stakes meeting at the white house between president obama and congressional leaders on the fiscal crisis. the talks are a last-ditch effort to avoid spending cuts and tax hikes from 90% of american households. mike emanuel is live on capitol hill where all the action is taking place. is there a lot of action? there is a lot of buzz on capitol hill. mitch mcconnell, who will be attending a white house meeting told us a few moments ago that we are always the running out of time. chairman max baucus, the democrat says that he thinks this will fiscal cliff matter comes down as one white house meeting two hours from now. another top senate republican said a short time ago that he

was calling on president obama to lead. >> the president is not a senator anymore. he's a president. just as president reagan worked to deal with tip o'neill and bill clinton and president eisenhower, we need leadership on not just taxing rich people, but we contact them and it wouldn't help the medicare fiscal cliff. greg: others are skeptical, noting that high-profile meetings are for show often times and all about tactics. we expect the president will try a stopgap measure extending middle-class tax rates, extending unemployment benefits for some 2 million americans, do some small spending cuts now, but not entitlement reform. an ally of the white house and the house of representatives offered this. >> this is not for show. it is a last-ditch effort by the president to bring the congressional leaders together

to try and get at least a small package. a small deal together before the new year. in order to avoid some of the tax hikes of the fiscal cliff and to deal with some of the unemployment. greg: senator rob portman, a republican from ohio said that if lawmakers in the white house can get through this fiscal cliff, we will immediately face another fiscal cliff, if you will. the debt ceiling, noting that are dead is not sustainable. so portman does not sound impressed by talk of a small package to get through this initial fiscal cliff. worried about the long-term impact of our unsustainable debt. greg: our markets are taking a little bit of a head. falling on wall street, the market is on track for its fifth consecutive decline.

investors feared that the fallout will have a tremendous effect on what is already a fragile economic recovery. stephen moore joins us. when economic growth was comparatively pretty good, this the president said no, now you don't want to raise tax rates because the economy is fragile. gdp is worse now, is that? >> i think almost exactly two years ago, the president said the economy is too fragile to raise taxes on anyone. so what you have essentially was a deal that was put together. remember back in december of 2010 when we were facing a very similar situation where they agreed to extend all the tax cuts for two years. by the way, that is why we are facing this new fiscal cliff. it is infuriating to business owners. i have been talking to a lot of them last couple of weeks.

this is banana republic type of politics. no one knows what it will look like. it makes it impossible for businesses to do planning, purchasing equipment, hiring workers. you are seeing the impact on the stock market already where we have a lousy 10 days with stocks because everybody is in this kind of state of fear and trepidation that we are going to go over this cliff. i will give you a sliver of good news, i talked to some of my sources in the republican leadership and they say that the president sounded a little bit more conciliatory in this last phone call that they had. and they still hold out hope that we might get a deal before the stroke of midnight. and the ball comes down in new york. gregg: you are talking about huge amounts of tax increases. you know, some people, i have e-mails -- i was loaded with e-mails yesterday from folks.

firefighters and teachers, i'm going to see 15,000, $20,000 of my hard earned money. then you have the estate tax is going up, and then there is a marriage penalty. so you get punished for being married. >> you know, you are right. what you leave out is the alternative minimum tax. that is supposed to affect possibly 25 or 26 million americans who are going to be pushed into the alternative minimum tax. the amt. you're right, this is devastating to american families. by my calculations and others, we are talking about perhaps $2500. not on bill gates is a really rich people, but middle-class families that are already facing a real financial panic. >> warren buffett could pay off the deficit he wanted to.

but it is to be that a deal will happen after january 1. does that make any difference? >> yes, it does. i think some of all this panic is a little bit overwrought. if they don't reach a deal in the next 22 hours or so, then we go into january, and the stakes get so much higher. as you said, people will start feeling immediately the effect of those higher taxes. and that will put the pressure on the congress and president reach a deal. if they don't reach a deal on december 31, which is my prediction, i believe sometime before the end of january, they will reach a deal. but my goodness. one of the things that is frustrating is we have known this day was coming for the last two years. yet here we are, 72 hours away and we don't have a resolution. gregg: this is a contrivance that they are desperately trying to fix.

our member the president said in a debate, the debate, he said that i didn't come up with this. then bob woodward came out and said, yes, you did. you know, both a top aide said that you guys came up with this idea of the white house. look in the mirror, right. >> that's exactly right. a lot of people on wall street and in the media are saying just don't do it, don't go over the cliff. you know, and then that shows a we that we still have a 16 trillion-dollar national debt. so when the world are we going to get serious about what the american people say they want, which is reduction in the debt so that we don't become a country that looks like greece. [talking over each other] gregg: capitol hill and pennsylvania avenue, maybe they just think 16 trillion, 25 trillion, who cares.

maybe they don't think it has a depressive effect on economic growth, and soaking up the credit markets, which women's businesses. >> that's exactly right. we don't have to wonder what this will go by. all we have to do is look over the pond and see what's happening in countries like greece and italy and spain and ireland have these massive debt. now we cannot repay them, massive interest-rate increases, you and i have talked about this before. but shame on us for not realizing that we stay on this path, we are in real financial trouble. gregg: stephen moore, economics writer for "the wall street journal." on her way to the fiscal cliff. thank you very much. heather: russian president vladimir putin accused of playing politics with the lives of orphans. signing a bill banning americans from adopting russian children. bad news has left dozens of american families heartbroken.

amy kellogg is live in london with details. reporter: heather, one russian activist says that every member of the russian parliament voted for this measure should be obliged to adopt a russian child of his or her own. there are 700,000 russian children who need a home. only 18,000 russian families who signed up to adopt. this new law was named after a russian baby that died in the custody of his american adoptive parents. he was neglected. but it is really believe that the reason for this law was another law that was just passed in washington, so it is a response to the american law punishes human rights violators in russia. it was sparked by the death of a russian lawyer who died died in jail investigating a fraud case at the request of americans in russia. it singles out dozens of

russians that police believe are connected to that case. they can't travel to the united states and their assets are frozen. russia has been defiant in this case. it is even launching a posthumous price for the new law and russian voices speaking of saying it's not fair to penalize children. having adopted 60,000 over last two decades, and as you mentioned, there are several dozen cases right now that are pending. several dozen russian children who are in the final stages of this adoption process. those who should be coming to the united states very soon. it is not clear what's going to happen to them. it's very sad because the parents and children have had numerous visits to russia by the parents. the russians have put them through the loops to see the

u.s. governm says it will fight to see that these cases come together. but the law is not clear at this point what is going to happen. heather: we hope that those cases can get through to those families. gregg: a last-ditch effort to avoid the fiscal cliff. as whether any progress is possible or whether this last-minute meeting is off it's just for show speak to the epa administrator announces her resignation at the end of the present term. we will debate the claim that she is doing so before a scandal involving some epa e-mails getting attention. gregg: and the secret life of norma jean. new details emerge from the fbi files on marilyn monroe. why this american icon was once investigated for communist ties.

>> the loveliest of the lovely as seen here in the role as she leaves in atlantic city beauty pageant. she is mourned by the world. particularly by a host of veterans of the korean war. one of her many generous giving his of her charms and humor. fellow citizens, many of who had a rendezvous with death. a symbol of all the girls back home, maryland, did not go unrecognized

gregg: parts of arkansas could be ringing in the new year in the dark, all thanks to a christmas day blizzard that dumped more than 15 inches of snow in the state and caused widespread damage and a bunch of power lines, more than 200,000 customers without any power. the state's largest utility is saying that some areas won't get

power back until after the new year. heather: all eyes are on washington as the president and congressional leaders make a last-ditch effort to avoid going over the fiscal cliff. the crucial meeting. less than two hours from now, time is running out and no agreement is in sight. with both sides staring at the abyss, the frustration is growing. the rhetoric is heating up. a political editor for the washington times joins us now with a make or break moment. what he thinks would happen? >> president obama, he expects to try one last ditch effort. a scaled-down proposal that may be able to win some agreements. republicans have a hardy sort of drawn their lines in the sand. john boehner, house speaker told his troops yesterday that he would not go in there and cut any deals. mitch mcconnell is going in there, he spends all morning

talking on the floor with his members in the middle of a bunch of votes over there, he's taking their thoughts about what they can expect over there. but there is no reason to think that there is going to be any big breakthrough here. the two sides are just too far apart and too entrenched. is essentially a last-ditch effort to try to basically see if something gets done. heather: talk to me more about that. what we are seeing is a plan c. extending tax cuts, unemployment benefits for people who are going to lose it at the end of the year, and laying the groundwork for growth and deficit reduction. that sounds like tamino guaranteed significant cuts either. >> that's right. part of the problem there for republicans is what they are giving him. they are giving up the tax leverage they would have for bigger and broader tax reform

for next year. part of the reason why i don't think we get a deal out of later today. the president is essentially asking for what he has been asking for since the election. the only thing that will have changed is what the republicans are tired of fighting him or not. as of right now, there is no indication that they are tired. they go into next year with a stronger position for the things they want, personal because they have the leverage of the debt ceiling coming up, second of all, they will be able to vote for tax cuts next year. once you you have the tax increases go into effect, at that point, cbo and everybody starts going from higher revenue. the republicans will be voting for a tax cut, even if they don't come down to levels where they are right now. they get the chance to vote for that, which is a lot more palatable. heather: that is what a lot of people at home are wondering. they can't reach an agreement now. we have been talking about this forever. the end of the line, time is up, we still haven't reached an

agreement. what we believe that they would've been able to reach an agreement retroactively? >> congress is supposed to work well under the deadline. even if some of the fights we had last year, they ended up arguing. it is likely that a deal will get done on tax rates within a month or so. several republican senators are just talking with reporters about an hour ago. they said that most americans are going to get their tax rates -- they will stay low. whether it happens in last-minute deal now or part of tax reform next year. i think they are right about that. it can be a lot of pressure to take care of most americans and us. the question is if you go over the fiscal cliff immediately, next year you start with a lot more option for how to deal with it, rather than just a discussion of income levels.

a million-dollar threshold or $250,000 threshold speaker which is what we are all talking about. >> that's exactly right. the travesty has been the line drawn, $250,000 and john boehner working his way towards that in terms of tax cuts. but then not coming to an agreement. it left all of the other areas out there that we haven't dealt with. medicare and other big entitlements. we still don't know the outlines of dealing with discretionary spending. as you said, all those other parts have been like left as we focus on this one fight, a fairly small part of it. heather: thank you for joining us, we will see what happens two hours from now we want washington is on high alert as new photos suggest north korea may be preparing for a nuclear test. we will have the latest on this developing story. heather: and american hero remembered today. storm in norman, the man who led

us to victory in the first gulf war. >> i have to tell you know no words can ever capture the emotions that go through a person's heart when he stands for the last time and here's the national anthem salute the american flag representing the country that he is loudly and proudly served over the last 35 years. you know that honey nut cheerios has oats that can help lower cholesterol? and it tastes good? sure does! wow. it's the honey, it makes it taste so... well, would you look at the time... what's the rush?

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heather: a man taken into custody on a domestic violence charge opens fire at a police station in new jersey. it happened in this klausner station. police saying that the man was being processed this morning when he grabbed a gun. one officer was hit in the stomach and is undergoing surgery. the other two suffered minor

injuries. gregg: the nation is mourning an american hero today. general norman fort scott died yesterday from complications of pneumonia. he led the international coalition that drove saddam hussein's forces out of kuwait back in 1991. chris gallagher is live in los angeles with more. reporter: he really was the most recognizable military figure since figures since douglas macarthur for part of it was just because he commanded the first gulf war, which was really the first war that was fought on live television. general schwarzkopf would give those live media briefings. he also drew the battle plans for operation desert shield and desert storm. after the war, his popularity skyrocketed. he was giving a standing ovation by congress. he was united by queen elizabeth and given the presidential medal of freedom who issued a

statement calling the general a distinguished member of the long gray line of defending our country for freedom and see our country. he served two tours in vietnam, he won three stars in vietnam. three distinguished service medals after retiring from the military and he wrote a best-selling autobiography and rejected numerous calls for him to run for office. he was also involved in many children's charities, as well as a spokesman for prostate cancer. he was called stormin' norman because of his explosive temper, but his friends and family say that there was never a truer or kinder man. as you said, norman schwarzkopf

died at the age of 78 years old in tampa, florida. gregg: a great american hero, norman schwarzkopf. heather: major developments unfolding in syria. warplanes bombing their own people. as rebels say no to propose peace talks. live overseas with all this could mean to the united states. gregg: and fallout after the chief of the american protection agencies dust down. it is more than just your average run-of-the-mill resignation. a new scandal coming up next. heather: and another man pushed to his death in a new york city subway platform. details on the suspect and the intense urge coming up next. >> to think that they put somebody into the tracks is horrible. >> it is the last stop on the train.

that is all they were telling people. people asked what happened. the conductor said he didn't know. they were not given any information off vietnam in 1968. over the south pacific in 1943. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve.

heather: welcome back. new developments in the syrian crisis. nothing of the siege near the military base at the border of turkey. all of this as russia proposes

peace talks with the opposition. only to have the offer quickly rejected. leland vittert is live with the very latest. reporter: heather, the rebels don't see russia as an honest broker in this whole process. they don't want to sit down with them. they have seen seen the russians protect and on president assad for two years. they say this is a kind of situation or negotiating table that they want to get around. the rebels now believe that time is on their side. if we look at some of the video from the battlefields, we are seeing the momentum is starting to go their way during the battle that is on. they are better equipped, they have taken large parts of the northern part of the country, and they are also beginning to tighten around a lot of the central syrian cities, including damascus and trying to go all the way in videotapes, they said that they were going to go to bashar al-assad's house.

the russians are changing their tune a little bit. the russians only foreign enable poor. one of the reasons they have been so locked up with they are thinking they want to keep their port. the russians are not the only one involved. lots of people sending weapons into syria. you have a war going on with the wrong, on the other side, you have weapons coming from saudi arabia and qatar in turkey and that is what is supplying the rebels in the civil war that is continuing to rage on. both of those don't really have a lot to gain. they have a lot to lose. their side loses, they will lose a lot.

as long as the syrians are willing to keep killing each other in this process, so far the syrian civil war has now claimed 44,000 lives. many people believe there really no matter how this breaks down over the next couple of months, even if bashar al-assad does leave his power, this war could still rage on for a very long time to come. the 44,000 number could just be the beginning. a lot of people are saying that we could double that number if the violence continues over the next year. as it continues to creep closer and closer to the major cities inside syria, like what we are seeing right now. heather: you are talking about innocent civilians. i got an e-mail today about a cousin and his daughter was killed outside of a school yesterday in syria. thank you very much. leland vittert, we appreciate it. gregg: a controversial new theory is emerging as he said

jackson announces her sudden resignation from the epa. at the end of the president's term without really saying why. while it is common, certainly for cabinet members to move on at the end of the presidency, others suggest that there is a different reason having to do it some with some secret e-mail addresses that the epa was using. in a scandal that could get a lot more public in just the next month. alan colmes is shows of the alan colmes show. good to see you. what do you think is going on here? >> welcome all i know is listening to your lead-in, every time you say epa and secret e-mail addresses, there seems to be something nefarious going on. i can't imagine a government official or agency justifying the use of false e-mail addresses there were actually

dummy names being used. phony names. lisa jackson steps down inexplicably. the president gives a vague pat on the back and she goes out the door. always in this world of what would be like if it was a republican administration. from "fast and furious" to benghazi and now this. and yet the mainstream media likes to say, move along, nothing to see here. gregg: now we have a similar scandal and the epa. what you say? >> a libertarian think tank is alleging that this woman had a phony e-mail address. there is also the fact that almost all public agencies, there is a public e-mail address and an internal e-mail addresses they can communicate with each

other. since it is a secret or phony e-mail address, and environmental protester -- he doesn't want to be pro-pipeline, give the administration and all these issues -- he is alleging that this one person used a false e-mail address, a phony name, and did some things falsely under that name. >> let's have some evidence if that's true. >> okay, so if you find out that the epa officials is one example, there was a richard someone that was a fake name. so if that is true, wouldn't you think that there is something nefarious going on? whited lisa jackson resigned? >> you are making a global statement as well. we have benghazi and now we have

this. without any information whatsoever that that could be the case? let's put lisa jackson in perspective. she was my career choice and environmentalists. she became the head of the epa. we did that whole one-hour documentary. and they said she's the enemy of oil and natural gas and has cost american taxpayers single-handedly a lot of money. now, that could be an unfair rap. when you take it as? >> there's no question that she's no fan of the coal industry. i understand balance point. i think it's a good one. there have been 30 plus thousand e-mails having to be turned over. i think at a rate of 3000 a day or some crazy number like that as a result of the freedom of information request. if we find out he said jackson was hiding behind some phony name and some private personal

e-mail address,. >> if it is a wider scandal than that, we should know. right now we don't. what is it have to do with the resignation? >> who knows what's in her e-mail. [talking over each other] >> it has to do with our progressive tax system. i'm not exactly sure. >> i would just love to see transparency. [talking over each other] >> we ought to talk about it.

we can talk about this scandal, the scandal and benghazi. gregg: mike gallagher, alan colmes, thank you both very much. heather: we are days away from new year's eve. make sure that you bring it in right here with us. megyn kelly and bill hemmer will be hosting an all american new year's eve right here on the fox news channel. this year, the show includes this four-time grammy winner. ♪ we are young. ♪ heartache to heartache ♪ love is a battlefield

♪ single mother. heather: yes, that is pat benatar. right here in new york city, plus sarah brightman. she has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, and has a long stage winner. she is also well known for her duet with andrew pacelli and time to say goodbye. it starts live in times square with megyn kelly and bill hemmer. you can be part of the show as well. send us your happy new year's message and it will appear. it's pretty exciting. type the words utextyour

greeting and send it to 36288. then tune in to watch your message. for more on the all american new year's eve special comments come and look at the top stories from 2012, go to fox news.com/aanye. coming up next, new evidence, and this is a serious story of a growing nuclear threat. north korea could soon conduct a small-scale explosion. why that is now adding to concerns right here at home. gregg: a new update on george h. w. bush his condition. he is still in intensive care. his family and spokesperson releasing an update, so we will fill you in on that. heather: new information on marilyn monroe's private life as

fbi files are made public and it reveals a lot about this american icon. >> jane russell was marilyn monroe's companion at the theater. marilyn knew many times. she gave one of her finest performances. ♪

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gregg: keeping an eye on north korea's next move. the rogue nation could conduct an atomic test. this washington on high alert. as well as the world. david has more in bangkok, thailand. reporter: yes, these satellite images are released from the associated press indicate receptivity in a nuclear test site in north korea. experts have looked at the pictures and saying there is flood damage. but they also say that there is more water pouring out of one of the tunnels at the nuclear test site.

it is really difficult to know what they are up to there. mainly because most nuclear test preparations are done deep within the mountain. they decide to push ahead, then it would show that back in 2006 and 2009 come after conducting long-range missile tests and worldwide, condemnation, north korea went ahead with its first atomic explosions. more sanctions, which could of course trigger some kind of nuclear test by north korea. this three stage rocket put a rocket into orbit. said that's part of the space program. but the u.s. and its allies say that it is a missile test, which

has been banned by the u.n. in the past because of the earlier missile test. south korea's defense ministry warned that north korea has the capability to fire a missile, but experts say it could be years before pyongyang is able to i'm such a missile with a nuclear warhead. but the concern is if north korea conducts another nuclear test, you could learn more about how to miniaturized technology, which is a key step in building a nuclear weapons program. but of course, we are now just waiting to find out if kim jong-un will take another step and conduct a third nuclear test. back to you. gregg: david is live in bangkok. thank you so much, david. heather: with more on this, let's bring in the director of

japan studies at the american enterprise institute. thank you for joining us and i thank you for having me. hello, heather. heather: you have this article that you wrote for the national review online. the very first line of your article says this. save yourself a few precious minutes and ignoring everything that the u.s. government says about north korea. so what is going on? >> welcome the truth is we don't know what is going on. we are pretty clueless about north korea. all we know is that when it's time fore holidays and for us to relax, north korea will do something crazy like launching rockets on july 4 or maybe setting up another nuclear test around new year's. you know, we go through these cycles. we assume that one day we are going to get them back to the negotiating table, we try to do that, and then they turn around and they break their promise. we are right back where we started from. my point is that i think we should really stop thinking about what we can do to handle this situation. rather, we should accept that

the north koreans control the table on this. heather: so do nothing? >> well, what can we do? the chinese and russians don't help us on sanctions. they have been ineffective because china that dan. you know, when you look at it, everything that we have tried after the bush years has been a failure. now, during the bush years in the early part of that administration, it puts real financial squeeze on the regime. but then they drop it because they have this fantasy that if we can just sit down one more time with the north koreans, suddenly we will have a deal that will make all this go away. it is not how the world works. the north koreans are getting better each time out launching missiles and setting off nuclear explosions. >> on that note, how realistic do you think it is? and how soon do you think it would be that they would be able to i'm one of these long-range missiles with a nuclear warhead? >> that is the real question. this last missile test was real

important because it showed that they were successful. they got it up into the atmosphere. it can go a long way to the united states. now, if they perfect nuclear explosions and start miniaturizing it, being able to put it on a missile, that changes everything. everybody in the region is at risk. but we have no good options. we have worked ourselves down this road, believing the one that we could negotiate with them. one day, maybe very soon, we will have a nuclear armed north korea with bombs on top of intercontinental ballistic missiles. what do we do then? heather: thank you so much for joining us, michael. we will keep an eye on it. gregg: a man on a new york city platform on the subway had a woman push him to his death in front of an oncoming train. police want you to see this video coming out. and the shocking details about marilyn monroe. newly released fbi files.

heather: welcome back. a nightmare on a new york city subway platform after a woman pushes a man to his death. police releasing the surveillance video, hoping to find the suspect.

she can be seen running away from the scene. this is from the 40th street station in sunnyside queens. her victim, a complete stranger, was waiting on the platform around 8:00 o'clock last night when she came up from behind him and shoved him onto the tracks. he was hit by a train and killed. this is the second deadly subway push a new york city this month. gregg: shocking details revealed about marilyn monroe. the fbi releasing previously redacted files. showing the agency suspected the actress was a communist. trace gallagher is live in los angeles with more. reporter: as you know, gregg come under j. edgar hoover, they kept a lot of files on people like frank sonata and charlie chaplin, they began keeping files on marilyn monroe in 1955 and continue to do so until just a few months before her death in 1962. some of the files have been

released before. they were so heavily redacted that they were impossible to read. well, the ap has fought to get more of the unredacted files released. they showed the fbi focus mostly on marilyn monroe's travels and who she associated with. looking for possible ties to communism. in 1956, the new york daily news got an anonymous call about her then husband on the playwright arthur miller -- saying that arthur miller was part of the communist party and marilyn monroe had also drifted into the communist orbit. it also shows that she visited a well-known communist and mexico. the confusion seem to be that those reviews were very leftist, she was not a communist. investigators and biographers don't believe her death was suicide, they would like to see

more of these files released. in his biography, the author raised questions about whether the government could have been involved in her death in 1982 the los angeles district attorney did an investigation. but they didn't have a great deal of information to work with. so many of the fbi files were redacted. media outlets are fighting to get more of those files unredacted unreleased. gregg: thank you so much, trace gallagher. heather: from washington to main street, the fiscal crisis taking a toll on consumers. we will break down the numbers for your next. gregg: former president george h. w. bush is fighting a persistent fever. a brand-new update on his condition and a live report.

heather: and another major storm set the site on the northeast. >> doesn't matter how long you live here, it's cold. a lot of snow. work has to get done

heather: a fox news alert. we are one hour away from a high-stakes meeting at the

white house as the president and congressional leaders try to avoid tax hikes on the 0% of all americans and deep spending cuts that economists warn could plunge us into another recession. welcome to a brand new hour of "america live". imheather childers. gregg: i'm gregg jarrett. we're in for megyn kelly. a live look at the white house where president obama and house and senate leaders will make a last-ditch effort to try to reach a deal to avert an imminent fiscal crisis. this meeting between the president and congressional leaders is their first since november 16th. really? and they are just meeting now more than a month later. a few days before all the tax increases and spending cuts will kick in. we will all obviously feel the pain if that happens. ed henry, is live at the white house. ed? >> reporter: gregg, it is hard to understate how critical this meeting will be. one of the president's top democratic allies on capitol hill, max baucus, the

senator from montana said a little while ago it will come down to this meeting whether or not we go off the fiscal cliff. he went on to say the pressure on all sides is red hot right now to come up with a deal. heading into this meeting, republicans like lamar alexander are trying to push more pressure on the president than the republican leaders. take a listen. >> we need two words, presidential leadership on not just taxing rich people. we could tax all the rich people and can you it their heads off and it wouldn't help the medicare fiscal cliff. we need to do both and the president has to lead it. if he does, i'm ready to work with him and so are a lot of other republicans. >> reporter: now the white house response to all of that is that the president has been working to get a deal for weeks and weeks now, private negotiations with speaker john boehner and also phone calls. they believe inside the white house the resistance is that republicans do not want to raise tax rates. what we can expect from this meeting this afternoon is the president will push what is almost plan-c now.

which is basically a more short-term fix to avoid the fiscal cliff that would involve helping people who are about to lose their unemployment benefits and coming up with medium ground on extending tax cuts. take a listen. >> in the next few days i've asked leaders of congress to work toward a package that prevents a tax hike on middle class americans, protects unemployment insurance for two million americans, and lays the groundwork for further work on both growth and deficit reduction. that is an achievable goal. >> reporter: that was the president's approach one week ago today right before he left for hawaii. he obviously has come back from the vacation. we're told behind closed doors one hour from now he will push the short-term fix to the republican and democratic leaders. the pressure is on them because economists said if they don't come up with a deal we may slip into another recession. earlier today republican senator bob corker is

warning look, the markets have been relatively stable during all these talks because they thought all along near the end we would get a deal. if they don't get a deal, senator corker said the markets may respond in negative way to congress kicking the can down the road. gregg: corker said the president is doing this for show. this is optics, this meeting as if to suggest it is not serious. we'll wait and hear what you have to report after the meeting has concluded. ed henry, live at the white house. ed, thanks very much. the fiscal cliff crisis also taking a toll on consumer confidence, a key driver of the nation's economy. take a look at this. according to a new report from the conference board now just to explain, a score of 90 on the conference board's index means the economy is healthy. the last time we saw that number was 2007. before the start of the financial crisis. over the last couple of months we have seen steady declines. november's report showed an

index score of 71.5 and just 65.1 in december. that's the lowest number we have seen since august. matt mccall is the president of penn financial group. he jones us now live. how serious is this? >> it is extremely serious, gregg. we're seeing numbers backdating going back to november. what we haven't seen yet, we won't see until january the effect of the uncertainty of fiscal cliff and potential of falling off the fiscal cliff will have on the economy and have on consumers and potentially lead us back into as you mentioned what a lot of economists believe, another recession. gregg: what happens when fourth quarter earnings come out? >> nobody is really talking about this. companies, fourth quarter ends in a few days from now. we haven't had many warnings come from companies but when you see consumer confidence falling, mastercard came out with their numbers on holiday sales only increasing .7%. well below estimates and historical averages and consumer is 70% of the

economy we'll see a wave of corporations come out earnings in middle of january, end of january, come out much lower than expectations. as senator corker talked about today, the markets have held up very well throughout this, because a lot of people on wall street including myself believed a deal would get done before the end of the year. that is looking less and less likely. if nothing gets done you will see the market tank, less consumer spending. gregg: if consumer spending is 70% of the american economy, and it is clearly, this couldn't come at a worse time, right. >> you think about this. majority of the their spending is typically the holiday season. retailers are banking on close to 50 or 60% of the their sales just during the holiday season and those get cut dramatically or not meeting expectations like we're seeing that hurts retailers directly. that then leads to layoffs. that leads to higher unemployment. this trickle down effect that really cares the heck out of me.

sure consumer confidence is one number but it breaks down the underlying situation that we do have with the economy. gregg: if there's a small deal. and i was talking to chris van hollen in the leadership earlier today for the democrats, he said, small deal is what we're going to have, well, is that any good? a small deal is almost know deal, right. >> a small deal does nothing for the confidence of the consumer. nothing for confidence of investors or wall street. all this does is give us more of the same. kicking the can down the road. we want something done through the government. and if nothing gets done you will see the market come down, or i should say if something small gets done that is not what we need. in a few months we revisit this once again. you also have the debt limit ceiling we're looking at the end of the year as well there is so much going on. if we kick this down the road we'll lose complete confidence in the government. they will sit on money, they will not spend and recession is inevitable. >> s&p has been up. all other markets have pretty much been up on the

year. do you think people who are checking their 401(k)s and what not, the pension plans, they don't really appreciate perhaps the gravity of what is about to hit them? >> no, they don't. most people surprisingly when you ask them how well they have done with their 401(k), they think they have done terrible but when they open their statements at end of the year they will be pleasantly surprised. one of the thing people have they have been scared and on the sideline. people making money are hedge fund and mutual funds. you're not seeing individual investors making money because lack of confidence unfortunately. gregg: how much money is on the sidelines. >> 2 1/2 to 3 trillion. u.s. corporations are sittings on $1.2 trillion. imagine if we get confidence back and corporations start spending that is trillions of dollars going into the economy. gregg: you say they're sitting on it. it has to be somewhere? what are they doing, nothing? >> a lot sitting in cash not getting anything and overseas. we have situations in the

past money is overseas and dough want to bring it back with the uncertainty. tax code and if they bring it back they're getting whacked with tax code. we need friendly tax environment for corporations to spend the $1.2 trillion they're sitting on. gregg: if we go over the cliff that is not tax friendly. matt mccall, president of pns financial group. good to see you, matt. heather: we're seeing a bright spot in the u.s. economy. qord according to national association of realtors sales of new home were highest since april of 2010. a homebuyer tax credit caused then a spike in sales. it measures the number of americans who signed contracts to buy homes. the report also points to higher sales of previously occupied homes in the coming months. gregg: former president george h.w. bush remains in a houston hospital where he continues to recover from a persistent fever and a cough. a family spokesman just

giving us some, a new details, an update on his condition. mike tobin is live outside methodist hospital with the latest. mike? >> reporter: the latest, gregg, the latest release we got included the phrase, continues to improve in relation to the former president's condition. the staff around the president have made an effort to keep the releases light and optimistic, all the while acknowledging that he is pretty sick and he is 88 years old. he is in intensive care where he has been since sunday dealing what we describe as a stubborn fever. the fever the result of complications from a case of bronchitis that hospitalized former president toward the end of november. now the staff around the former president have been pretty frugal in terms of the information that they are releasing and they say one of the reasons for that is george herbert walker bush is so beloved people get any information they can overreact. that being said they have told us that he has been interacting with the staff. if you ever have had the

opportunity to meet former president bush he is a terribly funny guy. it is his style to crack jokes with the hospital staff. they say he has been doing that, and he is now taking it a step further and he has been singing with the hospital staff. gregg, back to you. gregg: singing with the hospital staff. that makes my day. mike, good to see you. thanks very much. we'll get back to you with an update. heather: that is good news. secretary of state hillary clinton returning to the state department next week after three weeks of recovery from a stomach virus and concussion. that kept her from testifying on the terror attack in libya but republican lawmakers say they still want answers. the questions secretary clinton faces when she goes to the hill. gregg: a new study is revealing a frightening trend in the country. why more and more americans are not doing something that could actually save their lives. heather: plus when japan's nuclear plant began to melt down in the wake of the 2011 tsunami, remember that? u.s. sailors from the uss

reagan rushed into help. they say the japanese government lied to them about the radiation dangers and they're suing. our legal panel weighs in on the case just ahead. hi. i'm henry winkler.

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heather: welcome back. 2012 will go down as a record year for new york city. mayor michael bloomberg announcing that new, all-time lows will be set for the fewest homicides and shootings in the city's history. as of yesterday there have been 414 homicides in new york this year. marking a 20% drop from last year. the previous low, 471, set back in 2009. now to put all of this into perspective, in 1990 there were more than 2200 murders. mayor bloomberg attributing the big drop in part to increased police patrols in high-crime areas and getting illegal guns off the streets.

gregg: there are reports that secretary of state hillary clinton will return to work next week after three weeks off trying to recover from that nasty stomach virus and a concussion when she fell and we're waiting for her front and center, or lawmakers are on capitol hill. they have some questions for her over the benghazi terror attack and what do they want to hear from secretary clinton? joining us now is eli lake, senior national security reporter for "newsweek" "daily beast". what do you think they really want to hear from her? is it about who wasn't paying attention when the security demands were being begged for? >> well, i think it is going to be three areas that she is going to face questions on the benghazi issue. the first is going to be, was she aware of the deteriorating environment and did she know there were cans for more security that were then denied? so did she know what the

accountability review board releases last week in their findings blamed on midlevel officials, did it get up to her? that is the first question. the second thing people will want to know why didn't she testify? why didn't she go on the sunday shows like susan rice. >> she was tired. >> i mean, i think they're going to ask her about that. did she agree with the talking points? did she agree with what the is ambassador to the united nations said? i think finally, i think they're definitely going to ask hillary clinton about not just what the environment was like in the run-up to benghazi, but i think they're going to ask her, was she trying to normalize the u.s. posture in libya overall so there wasn't as much military? and why did she want to do that knowing that the situation was getting much worse? so was there a deliberate, sort of effort to try to make it seem like everything was nor mall in libya, a normalized posture as opposed to something that was in the middle of a war zone. gregg: eli, if there was

real time accountability going on that night, a seven-hour long firefight in which, you know, our folks were under siege and they were begging for help and rescue and they were painting a laser target on the enemy that was firing at them. don't we also want to know who was in on that real-time accounting? was it the white house? the department of defense? was it charlene lamb at state? was hillary clinton involved? >> well, some of those details have been disputed in subsequent reports and in terms of the laser targeting and it looks like there were two kinds of fights. there was one fight for the embassy and several, a few hours later there was another kind of sustained mortar fire on the positions what was the cia base but i think charlene lamb was in contact with the diplomatic security guards. but there is a whole another element to this. why weren't there more military assets into position that could have made a difference later in the evening?

that is really a question for secretary panetta and the military. finally there is an intelligence question as well. i don't think hillary clinton will be able to talk about that element as well. gregg: well, an f-18 can get there in less than an hour from the closest base that was in italy. so somebody had to make that decision. do you suspect hillary clinton is going to say look, that wasn't my pay grade, that wasn't me? >> well, part of this is difficult because it really, looks more and more like the main activities in benghazi were cia related and hillary clinton is not going to want to talk in open testimony about that. however, it has been reported and i have confirmed this, that state department beliefs the cia was responsible for security of that diplomatic mission. gregg: right. >> i think the cia did not request military backup that evening. they believed they had a team in tripoli that was able to respond to it and they believed their team, sort of about a mile away at a cia base close to that diplomatic mission was able to respond to it.

the question is, why wasn't there more of an understanding of who is responsibility security ultimately was? really it relied on these february 17 militia which did not end up fighting the attackers when the 11th anniversary, 9/11 attacks occurred. gregg: sure. look, she's probably going to say, look, buck stops here. it is my responsibility. i had the department of state but she's also going to probably say i have got 50,000 employees, you know? so i can't be responsible for all of their acts. although the benghazi mission probably should been on the radar, right? >> well, i think that in some ways, you know, the legitimate criticism of hillary clinton and senior state department and for that matter the white house was, there seemed to have been a policy decision to do the regime change in libya, to help the rebels get rid of muammar qaddafi but not to do anything in much in terms of the reconstruction.

to use the terminology of general petraeus during the surge in iraq, there was the clear but there wasn't the hold and there wasn'ted build. what you had was diplomats unfortunately like ambassador chris stevens who were in incredibly vulnerable position as jihadists and those linked to al qaeda were slowly but surely setting up their positions and going maybe for a takeover of eastern libya and the question is, did that rise to the secretary of state level, did she know about it and was she rethinking what am period to be u.s. policy in that regard? gregg: eli lake, thanks so much. >> thank you. gregg: a lot more questions than answers now at least. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. heather: well, coming up, troubling new signs about the nation's fight against cancer. why more people are skipping potentially life-saving screening tests. we'll take a closer look. gregg: and fresh on the heals of a massive winter storm that buried a wide stretch of the country in

snow we are tracking, yes, another storm taking direct aim at a very hard-hit region. heather: plus for many of us the holidays mean traveling to grandma's house but now in one country it's not just the right thing to do. it's actually the law. we'll explain, coming up.

gregg: visit your parents or else. that is the latest from china's national legislature. a state media says a new amendment passed today on an existing law on the elderly requires adult children, requires them, to visit their aging parents. quote, often. or risk being sued by them. that's right. china is facing a growing crisis caring for its aging population due to the breakup of the traditional extended family. a lack of retirement or elder care facilities. that's a shame. heather: back to the u.s. now. the u.s. economy avoiding a second potentially devastating economic blow,

amid the fight over the fiscal cliff, as a temporary deal is reached to avert a strike at u.s. ports, for now anyway. major ports in more than a dozen states up and down the eastern seaboard would have been affected with potential losses estimated to be in the billions. and now it looks like they will have 30 days, anyway, to come up with a permanent plan to avoid a strike that could potentially put thousands of americans out of work. phil keating is live for us in miami with the very latest on this phil? >> reporter: hello. good afternoon and this just goes to show that two sides on two ends of the spectrum can negotiate and an agreement. this of course involves all the east coast and gulf coast ports that deal with containers. there will not be a strike and there will not be a shutdown this weekend. however the key sticking point had been, and the details that remained murky as to what the resolution has been, but the key sticking point was with international longshoreman's

association and the shipping companies over what are called, container royalties of the those are salary supplements based on how much each container weighs. the heavier the container, the more the longshoreman gets paid. the owners wanted those capped. the workers did not. this from a federal mediator in d.c. quote, the container royalty payment issue has been agreed upon in principle by the party subject to achieving overall bargaining agreement. the parties have agreed to additional extension of 30 days to negotiate all remaining issues. if they don't though, we return to a sweeping strike, freezing every container at all the ports with electronics, airline ports, clothes, textiles, just about every consumer product you can think of are in those containers. this involves every container shipping port from boston to houston. billions and billions of dollars worth of goods, both imports to buy and exports to sell.

>> so it's not just the local port area that would be affected by a strike but the entire region and the state, going nationally as well. >> reporter: that los angeles and long beach, california, port strike that happened earlier in december that only lasted about a week, only involved the clerks, that was estimated to have cost the economy a billion dollars a day. this would have been much more devastating, far more than a billion dollars a day and economists had really worried had we gone over the fiscal cliff and the strike also was in place, that would have been a one-two knockout punch for the economy. but at least one of the cliffs has been avoided. back to you. heather: i was taking notes at the beginning. you said two sides, or two sides on two different sides can come to an agreement. so it is possible? >> reporter: that's right, it is possible out there. happy new year. heather: happy new year to you too. gregg: well a live look at the white house now where the president has called a

last-minute meeting on the fiscal cliff. we just got word on the other end of the avenue, john boehner has arrived at the capitol. so who will really be there to blame on january 1 if those potentially devastating tax hikes and spending cuts actually go into effect? do you really want to look at your paycheck on that first week or two? heather: yeah. no. gregg: no. anybody want to look at their paycheck? no. heather: i will take a look at yours. gregg: no. heather: okay. they rushed into a nuclear disaster to do whatever they could to help but now a group of u.s. sailors is suing over japan's fukushima nuclear plant meltdown. they claim officials lied through their teeth about the dangers. do they have a case? we will debate it. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus presents the cold truth.

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gregg: we're tracking a new winter storm now taking direct aim at an area that is already snow covered, the northeast. this is what the region dealt with during the first snowstorm, blizzard conditions, up to 20 inches of snow in some spots. that storm blamed for at least 15 deaths nationwide and now another one is set to slam the northeast again tonight. forecasters predicting this new storm could dump several more inches of snow in major

cities and up to a foot and a half in some of the suburbs. some of that snow is likely to mix with freezing rain, so you know what that means. treacherous travel conditions will be tracking the storm. we'll keep you updated. heather: stay home and watch fox, right? gregg: stay in bed. heather: more on the fiscal cliff. president obama and top congressional leaders set to meet at the white house in about 30 minutes in a last-ditch effort to avoid tax increases on nearly all americans and a fiscal crisis, but what we've heard so far a is lot of fingerpointing. no solutions. no signs of progress for president obama. this left haven't hour scramble represents a test how he would balance the power of his re-election with his commitment to compromise. so who is to blame if both sides can't bridge the divide? tara dowdell, democratic strategist, with former jim

mcgreevey and david webb, accident cirrus xm patriot radio. good to see both of you. i want to begin with this. last night on fox news, this is what south carolina senator lindsey graham had to say about this meeting today. he said, quote, anytime you announce a meeting publicly in washington it's usually for political theater purposes. so, tara, is this all show? >> well i agree, obviously there is always some political theater going on in politics. i would say this year's oscar though goes to john boehner for pretending toe be nexting in good faith. throughout this whole process he has been the primary person pointing fingers and the democrats offered several different, several different opportunities for the speaker to come to the table, compromise opportunities. most recently even agreeing to seen less tax revenue as part of the deal. so i think that the issue here is that it is going to be very difficult for the republicans to come behind a

compromise plan which has tax increases and spending cuts which is really the balanced approach. heather: david, what do you think?. >> well, apparently the political kib bub can i theater continues in this segment. several means several or more. the president put two options on the table. before the election he asked for 800 billion. after the election, hey i won i want 1.6 billion trillion in tax hikes. this is where the political kibuki theater. we're playing small ball. we're going to hit the debt ceiling on december 31st, 6.39 trillion. we have $87 trillion in unfunded liabilities and they are arguing cutting rate of growth or savings over 10 years which won't impact one year's spending of. we're spending more with the fifth year of trillion dollars deficits ahead of us.

we already spent 282 billion two months into 2013. and the small ball, do we slow the rate of growth when we should be talking about cutting spending. we should be talking about entitlements. when we should be talking about tax reform. flatting the tax code. why did dr. dre move his business dealings over to ireland? because of their low corporate tax rate. big obama supporter. for all of you people wearing beats headphones that money is going through ireland now because of that problem. heather: okay. before we get off on dr. dre, let's talk a little bit what is going on now, 30 minutes from now, any moment, they're starting to arrive, we have boehner, pelosi, mcconnell, reid. they're on capitol hill. what can president obama offer that both sides can agree to. >> unfortunately for individual members of the republican house it is to their interest to let tax increases go into effect. that way they won't be viewed as having raised

taxes. they can come in and easier to negotiate with them. what the president, what we are hearing about what the president is proposing though, is a small deal to get them through the fiscal cliff so that it avoids some of the implications, some of the more damaging implications for the economy. i don't think the fiscal cliff honestly is really going to have a huge impact. our housing market and labor market remained firm and i think they can survive this. but i do think that though, that if the president does offer this smaller deal i think there's opportunity here, though it is probably slim. heather: that smaller deal, or that plan-c as the president has called it, i guess last friday or we're calling it now plan-c, david, it really doesn't talk about any extended or long-term cuts. we mentioned that earlier today. so how or why should republicans agree to that? >> they shouldn't. there's a problem here, heather. that is do we make a bad deal for the country? forget the blame game. that is what both sides are playing. we need solutions and the

country will give the credit whoever comes up with solutions the president doesn't have to run for re-election. the political calculus is wiped out for him to a great degree, not that there isn't always some element of that, tara is right. but beyond this we've already gone over the cliff. we did that when we had the automatic debt ceiling raise system in d.c. which essentially says we'll keep raising and spending more than we take in. so the small ball, the small small deal, it is plan k. it is political kibuki theater on both sides and we are not hearing any solutions. therefore the alternative minimum tax, 33 million americans will be affected by that the obamacare taxes, medical device tax, all these things will come into play with or without the fiscal cliff. by the way sequestration has already hit military families. not just the 55 billion that will come after january 1 out of the total of 500 billion. it's the fact that this will affect military readiness. heather: it will. >> it will affect

development. >> so then you saying want more spending on the defense side? >> no, i'm not saying. we have to --. don't put words in my mouth. i don't play the progressive game of playing kibuki theater. >> no one is playing progressive game. no need to insult or be rude. no need to insult and be rude. heather: thank you very much. wee appreciate it. thank you very much. the clock is ticking. >> all right. gregg: nail-biter for politics from a bruising republican primary to a high spirited presidential campaign. craig bosswell looks back at year it was from washington. >> reporter: 2012 was a make-or-break year for political careers especially in the high-stakes campaign for the white house. president obama ran unopposed for his party's nomination and seems like a shoo-in for re-election. >> don't boo. vote. >> reporter: sluggish economy, high unemployment and no clear plan for recovery made the 44th president vulnerable. >> the president's policies

have clearly not been successful reigniting this economy, in putting people back to work. >> reporter: earning his party's nomination was not quite as easy for former massachusetts governor mitt romney. after first being declared the winner of iowa caucuses a ballot glitch was discovered and he had to share the win with rick santorum. even though romney went on to win decisive victories in key primary states eventually the republican nominee he emerged from the battle bruised. >> i don't see how a massachusetts liberal will do better. >> he is the worst republican in the country to put up against barack obama. >> reporter: romney's campaign saw several ups and downs but appearing confident and in command during the first debate romney threw president obama off his game with the president delivering a surprisingly shaky performance. >> the first debate sets the tone and can have the most impact. but, yeah, look this is a series. >> reporter: mr. obama regained his footing by the third and final debate and ultimately won re-election. >> the best is yet to come.

>> reporter: 2012 also marked a milestone in implementation of president obama's health care law. in a 5-4 decision back in june the u.s. supreme court ruled the major crux of obamacare, the individual mandate is indeed constitutional. >> i'm happy. i'm pleased, to see the supreme court put the rule of law ahead of partisanship and ruled that the affordable care act is constitutional. >> reporter: the decision was the result of lawsuits brought by 26 state attorneys general against the federal government who claimed mandated participation was a violation of american's freedom. >> republicans won't let up whatsoever in our determination to repeal this terrible law. >> reporter: there are still several outstanding suits challenging the law, meaning obamacare will still be a hot button issue into 2013. as 2012 winds down, it resembles 2011 with congressional republicans finishing out the year locked in another showdown with the white house over taxes and spending with the average family caught in the middle. in washington, craig

bosswell, fox news. heather: thank you, craig. in the wake of the 2011 tsunami and destroyed parts of japan and crippled this nuclear plant a group of sailors from the uss reagan rushed into help. now they say the japanese government lied through their teeth about the radiation dangers and now they're suing. our legal panel weighs in. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. i just served my mother-in-law your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she? [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

heather: welcome back.

a new study is revealing a scary trend in this country. the number of americans getting routine cancer screenings has dropped over the past decade. a common test, seeing the drop often include mammograms for breast cancer, pap tests for cervical cancer and colonoscopies for colon and rec call cancer. so why are more americans skipping these life-saving tests? we have a doctor that is the chairman of the department of medicine at newark beth israel medical center and he joins us now with more. thank you for joining us. >> thank you, heather. great to be here. heather: why are more people skipping these screenings? >> i think it is a question of economy for one thing. i think the tests are costly. there is also secondarily confusion among physicians what to do, what to scan, what tests and how often they should be performed. for example, let's take breast and mammography. a lot of physicians are confused about that. mammography should be done after age 50 and up to age 74 on a yearly basis.

it should be done before the age of 50, say at 40, if you in fact have a first degree relative like a mother or grandmother who has had breast cancer or you have particularly dense breasts that is just one example. the insurance companies are not readily willing or perhaps able to pay for people to get breast screenings. another one is colonoscopy. it is recommended that you have a colonoscopy for average person every 10 years, say after the age of 40. five years for flexable for sigmoidoscopy to detect tumors of the colon. that met its mark. 53% of the people. 50% is the cuttoff. 53% of the people did get colon as scope miss and preventative screening for colon cancer. these are life an death. heather: if doctors

themselves and exports are -- experts are confused when and if she should get them, how do we know? who should we look to for guidance? >> the american cancer society for guidance. the proper health screening facility or authority in washington that sets policy but there's a lot of confusion out there how often, i don't know if this is driven i the insurance industry, about how often one should be tested for things. for example, my patients, after the age of say 40 should have a pap test every year. and that's one area that dropped something like 70% over the past 10 years. women simply do not get pap tests or cervical screening for cervical cancer. other areas are confusing like hepatitis-c screening. even diabetes screening is something that the average physician would do for his patients at least once a year to get a hemoglobin a-1-c. heather: what are the benefits or risks of any of

these screenings and obviously the benefit, early detection. >> early detection is a major benefit. the risks are very, very minor. some of the concern is radiation from having frequent mammograms. there are such thing as digital mammograms versus radiological ma'am gams. -- mammograms. digital mammograms are in. people are getting virtual colonoscopies. there are far more risk in those procedures than in a colon as skoppy with a flexible scope. to get a digital readout is much more applicable and safer. we're very concerned about the confusion that surrounds a lot of this testing. a clear example is the psa or prostate test which many men don't get and many physicians are confused about actually ordering. heather: check with your doctor. that would probably be the best advice? >> that is absolutely correct. heather: thank you, for

joining us. we appreciate it. >> thank you, heather, for having me. gregg: a nuclear meltdown last year in japan after an earthquake and tsunami is now the focus of a big lawsuit in an american court. within days of the disaster u.s. relief efforts were in full swing. american sailors and servicemen risking their lives to help those who really needed it. now eight sailors from the uss ronald reagan are suing the japanese utility that owns the nuclear power plant claiming it lied about the dangers from radiation leaking out from the crippled facility. each sailor seeking 10 of millions of dollars in damages and creation of a $100 million fund to pay for medical treatment. do they really have a case? we have a defense attorney. doug burns, also a defense attorney, former prosecutor. doug, negligence is one thing. >> yes. gregg: whether they properly maintained the facility in a safe way.

but lying is something different. is that the sort of the second part of this thing? >> yeah. it's interesting, gregg because they say they owe two duties. normal one is have reasonably safe environment. then they say there is also a duty not to misrepresent the level of danger involved but i think, you know, jumping ahead a little i think there are a couple of hurd tells. one is sort of procedural. what is the jurisdiction over the person, the defendant in a california federal court? i think they will litigate that. i'm not so sure they will be successful blocking the case from going forward. but the fact of the matter is are there minimum context? the other point is intervening act of god, tsunami and other acts of god. the defense will rely on that very, very heavily in my opinion. gregg: yeah. greg, it seems like the damages may be a little bit way down the road, speculative for now because some of these guys really aren't feeling any of the effects that, you know, one might otherwise expect in

radiation cases. >> that's right, gregg. i mean after what you get passed what doug was talking about, you've got the issue of damages. i mean the fact is that right now they're healthy. and assuming that they may get cancer or a shortened life expectancy, i mean to me, that is two speculative. gregg: right. >> i mean, for instance, my father was in the army and back in the '50s was involved in the atomic bomb tests. he in his late 70s and still healthy. did that, could he have argued back in the '50s exposure to the atomic bomb might have shortened his life or might have given him cancer? i would almost say, look, if and when hypothetically they were to get cancer, if you could then connect it at that point, then come see me with regard to the damages because i think that's the biggest hurdle they have to get over. gregg: right.

i'm sorry. i got somebody talking to me in my ear and i have no idea who it is. doug, let me go to you. proximate cause is something that plaintiffs have to prove. they have to prove a connection between an injury and negligence. >> absolutely and of course you're raising a distinction between the old, but for causation, which is, you know, but for being there this wouldn't have happened but you have to show it was the approximate last link that caused it. to pile on even further on the plaintiff's saga here, you had 5500 people on the reagan, gregg, which i found to be somewhat staggering when i read that. admittedly the distinction these eight were up more toward the surface, but again, i think they have a very tough case. gregg: yeah. greg, in the end what is going to happen with this thing? >> i think it may get thrown out, frankly. i think doug is absolutely right. they have an extremely tough

case. >> we wish them all well. >> absolutely. gregg: greg and doug, thank you both. appreciate it. >> my pleasure. thanks, gregg. >> we'll be right back. don't go away

heather: welcome back. there was no shortage of

disturbing headlines this year. put aside or aside from the fiscal cliff, monster storms and droughts, many of the stories came from the centers for disease control including a range of infections, diseases and outbreaks. elizabeth prann is live in atlanta with the look ater year in review. hi, elizabeth. >> reporter: heather, every year the agency works very hard to protect the public and promote healthy life-styles free of disease and viruses and 20 12th was no exception. >> it's been a busy year for cdc. >> reporter: thomas fridan lead the agency that investigates and solves many some of the biggest medical mysteries. in 2012 a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak linked to steroid injections killed dozens of patients and led to serious illnesses among others. >> we worked with 20 states to notify 14,000 people exposed to contaminated product. >> reporter: the steroid

used for treating joint and back pain was produced by the compounding pharmacy in massachusetts called necc. >> compound something certainly necessary if done safely in order dance with good manufacturing practices. >> reporter: 2012 was the highest year for mosquito borne west nile vie rao's cases. >> we had 5000 cases and 200 deaths from west nile virus. >> reporter: several states experienced food recalls from peanut butter to can't tell hope. >> we're looking at any one time to 30 to 40 possible foodborne outbreaks. >> reporter: the cdc works to rapidly identify the contaminated product to get it off the market. the center also launched its first national advertising campaign against tobacco use, with graphic portrayals of real people suffering serious smoking-related illnesses. >> very simply, that is the number one leading preventable cause of death. >> reporter: now, heather,

on a fiscal note, he did go on to say there have been millions of dollars of budget cuts over the past couple years. that only made the scientists and employees work more efficient but perhaps further cuts could jeopardize the cda's mission. heather, back to you. heather: elizabeth prann, reporting live for us. thank you, elizabeth. gregg: in less than three minutes the story of a dog and how he ended up stranded on a frozen lake and the efforts to rescue this pooch. it's a good story.

welcome back, man and his best friend lucky to be alive after getting stuck in an icy pond in michigan. a man was out for a walk with his dog when the dog wandered on to the pond and broke through the ice. his cousin went to get the dog only to fall through the ice himself. >> my wife called the 911 and we got the rescue there, and my cousin, lance, got waders and he went to the dog and crawled on his belly on the ice and got to him. then the -- lifted the dog on the ice and rescue put a boat there and hauled him into the boat and the dog was all set. the deeper he got out, the more ice was cracking. you couldn't get to him. so yeah, h